Descriptive Summary
Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan UniversityWesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.).Science Center Planning Files, 1962 - 19711000-100Material in English0.51For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult Special Collections & Archives staff.This collection concerns the planning and construction of Phase II of the Science Center, completed in 1970. The building is now known as the Exley Science Center.The Science Center Planning materials include correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, plans, drawings and other items related to the design, planning, space allocation, HVAC system, and construction of the Science Center and Science Library. Smith Haines Lundberg & Waehler, the E&F Construction Company, and Dolores Miller and Associates. were major companies involved in this project. Chair of the Building Committee John Sease and University Librarian Wyman W. Parker are major correspondents in the collection.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright for Official University records is held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

This collection concerns Phase II of the Science Center. Phase I was the construction of Hall-Atwater Laboratory, which was completed in 1967, preceding the rest of the center. The project began when Victor Butterfield was President. In the mid-1960s, the student population of the University was augmented by 510, approaching the population of the 1990s-2000s. Wesleyan had to meet the need to accommodate more students than the previous Hall Laboratory could, as well as meet competitive standards in the fields of science. These two factors justified the cost of the new Science Center, which in the end was approximately 18 million dollars. Phase II was completed in 1970 and the Science Library switched from the Cutter classification system to the Library of Congress classification system. In 2002 the Science Center was dedicated to Charles E. Exley, Jr., class of 1951, for his generous contributions to the University.

Collection Overview

This collection is organized into ten folders. The first folder has various types of documents pertaining to the overall project and the planning process involved. The second folder deals specifically with the issue of space allocation, and how the Building Committee had to work with the various science departments to plan out exactly how much space would be needed and how it could be distributed. The third folder contains documents and correspondence about the difficult issue of air conditioning in the Science Center. Folders 4 and 5 are both meeting minutes from the Smith Haines Lundberg and Waehler architecture firm. The sixth folder is similar, but from the E & F Construction Company. Folder 7 is the research and planning behind the Science Library. There was much discussion and research into what would be the final product. Folder 8 contains the documents reflecting the actual construction and furnishing of the library, installing bookstacks, and finding a good spatial layout. There was much correspondence sent between people involved in the process of creating the Science Library, most prominently university librarian Wyman Parker, and these are contained in folder 9. Finally, folder 10 contains documents, memos, and notes that did not fit with any of the categories above, or could not be deciphered.

This Folder contains documents dated between 1963 and 1970 that reflect the planning process behind the construction of the Science Center. It includes various architectural drawings, charts and occupancy plans, as well as correspondence and progress reports.

Exploratory Design Estimate for Science Center, July 30, 1964Letter from John Sease, August 1, 1964

Hand-drawn proposed layouts attached.

Report to the Education Committee of the Trustees of the Wesleyan Science Center: submitted by Rosenbaum, August 6, 1964Proposed occupancy plan drawings, September 26, 196414-page packet of drawings of occupancy plan and space allocation with estimates, late 1964.Letter from John Sease to John S. Fountain (architect) concerning details of the occupancy plan, October 3, 1964Memorandum slip from John Sease to several members of the faculty, January 8, 1965

Attached six-page occupancy plan for the chemistry and biology departments.

Handwritten letter from John Sease to faculty member, November 3, 1965

Attached six pages of Proposal #1 and Proposal #2 for renovation of Hall laboratory.

Response from Wyman W. Parker, Librarian, to John Sease over the November 3 proposal of Hall laboratory, November 10, 1965Handwritten letter, February 7, 1966

Attached drawing of Proposal #3 by John Sease to renovate the Hall Laboratory.

Memo slip from Wyman Parker to John Sease concerning problem with architect's space estimates, October 7, 1966Memo to building committee, January 3, 1967

Attached copy of Architect's minutes of meeting.

Three floor plan drawings by Smith Haines Lundberg & Waehler

Attached memo slip dated 1/30/1967

Proposed Project budget estimating cost and space needs, February 24, 1967Memo from John Sease expressing serious concern over the aesthetics of the building, June 16, 1967 Memorandum from Rosenbaum announcing site visit, July 10, 1967 October 11, 1967 memo from Ross A. Gortner to several faculty members announcing Meeting of Architects, Science Center Building Committee, Facilities Planners and other administrators concerned with Phase II of the Science Center. To have taken place on October 16, 1967.Change Order No. 3 by Smith Haines Lundberg & Waehler detailing revisions to the layout and design of the Science Center, December 1, 1967Document entitled Present Schedule of Moves, detailing each department's progress of moving into new building, November 9, 1970 Progress Schedule, October 6, 1970Letter from Miller Associates. Subject: Furniture installation in tower, December 8, 1970Undated document entitled Wesleyan University Science Center Phase II Room Numbering system.

Attached memo from Rosenbaum.

12Space Allocation

This file contains a number of documents, primarily tables of space estimate needs for the various science departments, between 1963 and 1967.

Summary of Space Estimates for Astronomy: 10 page document with table detailing all of the estimated space and library needs for the astronomy department, November 6, 1963Memo from John Sease to all science departments concerning meeting with architects to discuss space allocations, November 11, 1963 Summary of Space Estimates for Chemistry, December 11, 1963

3 page document issued as a correction to a previous document of November 6, 1963 that is not in the collection.

Wesleyan Science Center Space Allocation, April 20, 1964

Comprehensive 13 page document with space allocation estimates for each science department meant to use the science center.

Wesleyan Science Center Space Allocation, June 10, 1964

3 page document with comprehensive estimates for all departments in the science center and science library.

Two-page document with 8 different tables of spaces estimates based on floor.

Memorandum from John Sease to Science Center Building Committee concerning space allocation charts that had been distributed, August 12, 1966. Memorandum from John Sease to faculty members about space allocation, August 20, 1966 Space Allocation Drawing 3171-16 by Smith Haines Lundberg and Waehler, September 12, 1966

Architectural drawing with total cumulative space estimates for Science Center.

Corrections for Space Allocation Drawing 3171-16, October 3, 1966

Issued by John Sease, two-page document with corrections for architectural drawing.

Attached memo from John Sease to Wyman Parker proposing enclosed estimates to be final.

13Air Conditioning

This folder contains miscellaneous documents concerning the installation of an air conditioning system in the Science Center.

Memorandum from John Sease to Wyman Parker proposing air conditioning in the whole science library, November 26, 1963Memo from John Sease to building committee concerning acoustics and air conditioning in new science center, November 20, 196310 Page document with occupancy averages for each department during both day and night, median areas for air conditioned areas, and minimum level of air conditioning in certain areas for each department, December 27, 1963

Attached letter from John Sease.

Memo from John Sease to Building committee concerning projected costs for air conditioning and ventilation systems, February 4, 1964memo from John Sease to Building Committee concerning distinct air conditioning options and their prospective costs, February 27, 1964Memo from Ross Gortner to Department heads in science center, subject Air conditioning requirements, October 12, 1970

Attached response from Wyman Parker, October 19, 1970

Smith Haines Lundberg & Waehler Meeting Minutes, 1966-1970

This folder contains the meeting minutes from the architects that designed the science center.

1418 documents dated between July 22, 1966 and December 5, 19681526 documents dated between January 17, 1969 and July 20, 197016The E&F Construction Company Meeting Minutes

This folder contains the meeting minutes from the construction company hired by Wesleyan to build the Science Center.

24 documents dated between June 30, 1970 and January 22, 1971.17Science Library Research and Planning, 1960-1967

This folder contains a mix of documents reflecting the planning and design process of the Science Library. It contains many documents with information about other libraries.

3 page document entitled Library Planning Committee with list of information: Points to look at in the new library. UndatedUndated handwritten chart with present holdings, to be transferred, and number of volumes to be accommodated in Science Library with respective numbers for each science department. Background Information, 3 pages by the National Research Council of Canada describing the construction of a Nation Science Library in Ottawa.Individual Departmental Libraries vs. Consolidated Science Libraries,Physics Today, May 1961Annual Report of the Librarian from Swarthmore College Library, 1960/1961Haverford College Bulletin Library Reports, 1962-1963Letter to Rosenbaum from Mr. Randall of IBM Research Library promoting new library technologies, December 23, 1963The New Library at Homewood, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Ex Libris Leaflet from John Hopkins University, issued by the Friends of the Library, December 1963Short letter to Wyman Parker from Lieberfield, March 6, 1964

In this first annual summary report to the Friends of the Niels Bohr Library of the History of Physics, the background and growth of the library during the past year is briefly reviewed and some plans for the future are indicated.

Copy of August 1938 issue of a Discovery magazine article about physics for History of Science room in new science library

Three attached letters concerning it between Wyman Parker, John Sease, and Mr. Harry Lewis from the Institute of Paper Technology dated November 24 and December 10, 1964.

Sketches of library, October 3, 1966Memo from secretary of mathematics department with survey of Mathematics Library usage.One page article entitled Science Library for Brown, undated11-page pamphlet of Brown's new science library with drawings and layouts, December 1966J. Henry Meyer Memorial Library Stanford University Fact Sheet, 19674 copies of a survey by Wyman Parker

Given to Science Building Committee Representatives to catalog their preferences for two different design plans for the library. There is one original copy and three that have been filled out.

Letter from Smith Haines Lundberg & Waehler to William Dix, May 22, 1967

Attached document of his personal assessment of library needs for graduate programs.

Minutes from meeting between Dolores Miller and Associates and Wesleyan University, March 9, 1970 Minutes from meeting with Miller & Associates and Wesleyan, March 17, 1970letter from Walter Miller of Miller & Associates to Robert Wilson, March 25, 1970

Meeting minutes for meeting between Miller & Associates and Wesleyan, July 15, 1970Meeting minutes for Wesleyan and Miller & Associates, December 21, 1970Science Library Moves: Tentative Refined Schedule, December 28, 1970Letter from Robert Rosenbaum to the Class of 1971 recognizing graduating seniors who contributed to the new Science Library, June 1, 1971 2 page worksheet entitled American Library Association Library Administration Division Building Data Sheet, undated

The form is mostly filled out.

Letter from Patt Snyder, Science Librarian, to Ruth Frame of the American Library Association, with additional information about the science library requested by the association, April 12, 1972 3 black and white photographs of the Science Library interiors, stacks, and study furniture. 19Science Library correspondence

This folder contains correspondence between those involved in the process of creating the Science Library.

Memo to Earl Hanson from Wyman W. Parker concerning an article on the Dartmouth College Library, July 30, 1962 Letter from Bob Rosenbaum to John Sease about library storage and microcards, October 14, 1963 John Sease's response to Bob Rosenbaum, October 15, 1963Wyman Parker's response to Bob Rosenbaum, October 22, 1963 Letter to John Sease from Wyman Parker about space concerns in new library, October 24, 1963 Letter to Wyman Parker from John Sease about library space and rare book room, December 2, 1963 Memorandum to Chairmen of Departments and Programs from Provost J.C. Palamountain concerning the hiring of consultant Lawrence Lieberfield for space utilization, February 5, 1964 Letter to John Sease from Wyman Parker discussing space estimates for new library, March 19, 1964 Letter from John W. Spaeth, Jr. to several members of faculty including Bob Rosenbaum concerning Harry Lewis' proposal, November 27, 1965Memorandum from Wyman Parker to Science department representatives concerning proposed library specifications, August 18, 1966 Handwritten memo from John Sease to Wyman Parker, August 20, 1966 Letter to Wyman Parker from William Dix, Librarian for Princeton University, concerning science library design, September 6, 1966 Letter from Wyman Parker to J. Gomez-Ibanez, September 8, 1966

Attached September 6 letter about periodical displays in the library.

Memo from W. Parker to M. Durkan about catalogue cards, September 9, 1966 Letter from Wyman Parker to David Jonah, Librarian of the Rockefeller Library, October 4, 1966 Stapled letters between George Kidder of the biology department and Wyman Parker, October 7, 1966 Letter to Princeton Librarian from Wyman Parker, October 7, 1966 Letter from Wyman Parker to David Jonah, Librarian at Brown, concerning design of the library at Brown's science library, November 7, 1966 Letter from Wyman Parker to a Mr. Robert Balliot in response to the attached letter concerning the design plans of the library, February 22, 1967 Letter to Mr. Haines, architect, from Howard Matthres, Vice President and Treasurer of Wesleyan, concerning final space estimates for the new library and technological advances, May 5, 1967 Letter from Wyman Parker to Robert Balliot, then Librarian for the University of Illinois, May 19, 1967

Requests that he look over and make comments upon the architects' final plans for the library.

Letter from Wyman Parker to William S. Dix of Princeton University, May 19, 1967

Requests that he look over and make comments upon the architects' final plans for the library.

Response from Robert Balliot to Library plans, May 25, 1967 Response from William Dix of Princeton, May 29, 1967Letter from Robert Balliot to Wyman Parker concerning library office design plans, July 7, 1967 Response from Wyman Parker to Balliot's July 7 letter, July 11, 1967 Memo slip from Balliot to Ross Gortner concerning the key system to be used for the library, October 24, 1967 Memo 1/2 mill to keep hall…cheaper and more efficient to build new math-tear down hall build new library, dated November 9, circa 1967-1969

Only mention in collection of the decision to tear down the Hall Laboratory.

Letter to Earl Johnson from E&P Construction Company with the total price for glass enclosed shelving, February 25, 1971 Letter from Haines Lundberg & Waehler to Library Administration Division, October 6, 1971 110Miscellaneous memos and notes

This folder contains mostly handwritten notes and memos, some of which are cryptic. Some are dated between 1963 and 1971, but most are not dated.